Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 23: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday arrested Karnataka Congress MLA K C Veerendra ’Puppy’ from Sikkim under the anti-money laundering law for his alleged involvement in an alleged illegal online and offline betting racket after the federal agency carried out a massive search operation across India for the last two days.
The MLA, who was in Gangtok along with his associates, for allegedly leasing a piece of land for a casino, was arrested a day after the probe agency conducted a raid on his 30 premises in multiple states, which led to the seizure of Rs 12 crore cash, including around 1 crore in foreign currency, gold jewellery worth Rs 6 crore and silver articles around 10 kg, along with four vehicles.
The agency did not specify what was seized from where. A picture issued by the agency showed huge wads of currency notes kept on a casino table. The probe agency said the 50-year-old MLA from Chitradurga Assembly seat in Karnataka was taken into custody from Sikkim’s capital on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with an “illegal” online and offline betting case. He was produced before a designated magistrate and a transit remand was obtained for producing him before the jurisdictional court in Bengaluru, the agency said. The Bengaluru zone of the ED is investigating the case.
“Many property related documents were also seized from the premises of Veerendra’s brother K.C. Nagaraj and his son Pruthvi N Raj. “His other associates like another brother K C Thippeswamy are handling operations of online gaming from Dubai,” the ED said.
The investigation revealed a huge illegal betting network, including links to international casinos and gaming operations in Dubai. The raids were carried out in 31 locations in several states including Chitradurga, Hubballi and Bengaluru in Karnataka, Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Sikkim, Mumbai and Goa. Five casinos in Goa named Puppy’s Casino Gold, Ocean Rivers Casino, Puppy’s Casino Pride, Ocean 7 Casino and Big Daddy Casino were also raided.
According to the probe agency, the Congress MLA was running multiple betting websites such as ‘King567’ and ‘Raja567’, Puppy’s003, Rathna Gaming, and his brother K C Thippeswamy is alleged to be “operating” three business entities from Dubai named Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies and Prime9Technologies linked to call centre services and gaming operations.
Investigators also recovered multiple international casino membership cards from MGM, Bellagio, Metropolitan, Marina and Casino Jewel, along with luxury hotel memberships of Taj, Hyatt and The Leela, and several high-value credit and debit cards. These entities are “related” to the call centre services and the gaming business of Veerendra, according to the ED.
Three luxury vehicles were also found with the same VIP number: 0003. The ownership and source of funds of these high-end vehicles are being investigated.
According to the probe agency sources, incriminating materials pointed to “complex layering” of cash and funds, along with evidence of attempts to lease a land-based casino in Gangtok. The agency also froze 17 bank accounts, two lockers, and seized property documents linked to Veerendra’s brother K C Nagaraj, and nephew Pruthvi N Raj.